The girl who changed him
by hack the avian
Summary: After Knives and Vash's final fight, Vash takes injured Knives to the closest town possible. There a young girl makes the brothers aquiantance and allows them to live with her for the time being. It doesnt take long for her to become infatuated with the unconsious man and friends with his happy brother but When knives finally wakes up...Will she be able to help him change?


It had been how long since Vash had come to town with the wounded man he called brother? Oh that's right, about a year .Vash had shown up in a black body suit with the other blonde man over his shoulder. The man had gone into a coma like state and hadn't woken up; no one in town had paid much attention to the two men who had come about a year ago, as to avoid trouble. No one except the fairly small fragile looking young girl. She was a plain girl, brown hair and brown eyes to match. She was nothing special and wasn't wealthy, but had just enough to get by, everyone in town knew her. But she didn't talk much; she kept to herself and could either be found at work or in the public library reading about plants that didn't exist on the barren planet or of festivals and times long ago, she was exceptionally smart yet a social misfit, not because she committed petty crimes or was rude but because she rarely spoke to anyone. Her reasoning for not speaking? She found it unnecessary, meaning she should save her breath for when she really needed to speak, and what was the point of conversing with other human beings if your were not gaining anything from it? She knew everyone just as they knew her and she would exchange good mornings and greetings with everyone as she passed. But that day about a year ago when the tall blonde man carrying another blonde man on his shoulder waltzed into town, she had been the only person in town who stopped to stare for a moment at the pair. In return for her glance at the two she had gained a smile and small wave from the blonde man who carried the other. It was on that day about a year ago that she overheard his conversation with the mayor who had happened to be getting a drink at the bar she worked at, the mayor and the blonde man had talked about how he needed a place to stay urgently, so he could take care of the unconscious man he called brother. She had waited for a moment and listened to see where the conversation would go, she knew that there were no houses available so she was curious to see what would happen. When the mayor said he had no available places for them to stay she had a moment of weakness and felt an extreme pity for the unconscious man who looked to be near death. She quickly entered the discussion with a few quiet words "y-you can stay at my house" she suggested this while cleaning a glass. The blonde man looked shocked at first then smiled "really?" he had asked smiling widely; she gave a quick nod and a small glance at the unconscious man. Why had she said that?! She was only going to cause more trouble for herself! She contemplated her own words then thought, "I have this large cottage on the outskirts of town, empty and quiet…I love the quiet, I really do …...By inviting these people I've probably done something I will regret but…I have all that room and the man seems to be in urgent need of a place to stay, it will only be for a while anyway wont it? Once his brother is better they will probably leave" she thought it over for a minute, "Plus, I need something to keep myself occupied" and with that it was settled. She put down the glass quickly and came out from behind the bar counter; she held out a hand for the blonde man to shake and said "my name is violet" He gave a warm and friendly smile as if they had been friends for a very long time and shook her hand "my name is Vash, thank you for letting us stay with you Violet" she merely released his hand and removed her apron, that name sounded familiar …..In fact this Vash character seemed all too familiar! Had they met before? She brushed it off and placing the apron on the bar counter she began to walk towards the fairly large cottage like house that she called home "come, I will help you tend to your brother" and with that she had lead the two into her house, gotten the brother a spare bed to rest in, and tended to his wounds as quickly as she could as to prevent further damage and infection. Over the course of a few days she grew accustomed to waking Vash up in the morning and making breakfast for him, she found it time consuming yet fun and shushed Vash's protests of how he should be doing all of the work, plus It was fun to see Vash first thing in the morning with his hair all drooped over instead of sticking straight up it made her want to laugh. But after the beginning meal he would leave the house with a "thank you for the breakfast violet! I'll be back in time for dinner" and he returned later that day, sometimes at sunset sometimes early in the day sometimes late at night, what he did she would never know and didn't really mind. She spent most of the day tending to the brother, changing his bandages, washing his clothes if they were ever to become dirty, finding ways to feed him. At first she had looked upon the sleeping man with pity but now she looked at him endearment and an almost mother like fondness that could be considered more of a Childs crush. She was slightly happy that he never woke up so she could take care of him and she wouldn't have to deal with the moment that the two would leave her. What would he say when he awoke? Would he reject her completely? She had grown to fond of these two it was a bad thing to have done and she knew it yet She could only hope for the best that when and if he did wake up that maybe a miracle would occur and he would be just as attached to her as she had grown to him and somehow he would convince Vash that they should stay here. She enjoyed how quiet he was while he slept yet found the noisy way Vash slept amusing as well, Vash grew on her as well but in an older brother sort of way. For the time being she took care of the two happily and hoped that it would remain this way. After she took care of the morning chores and the brother, she left for work but checked in on him around lunch time and did whatever she found needed to be done. Then there was the day about 5 months into the first year during the evening meal after work, she sat at the table with Vash and watched as he happily ate the somewhat burnt attempt at doughnuts she had made after learning about his fondness for the round pieces of sugary bread. There was a small knock on the door, Vash had stopped immediately and looked at the door in awe, and seeing as how no one had ever come knocking on her door in those 5 months it was no wonder Vash was surprised. She got up suddenly and opened the door with a look of surprise on her usually stoic face, it was a small raven haired woman who was accompanied by a looming brunette "h-hello, my names Meryl Stryfe and this is my partner Millie Thompson we are with the bernardelli insurance society and we heard that Vash was staying here" the small Raven haired woman said. The brunette named Millie just smiled happily then called out to Vash "hello there !" Violet ushered them in and set two more plates out for them, Meryl had tried to protest but was snuffed out by Millie who eagerly sat down and began to munch on the doughnuts happily. Soon after they had introduced themselves and explained their connection to the two brothers she invited the women to stay as well, while Millie agreed happily Meryl refused politely and said "no, we will stay at the local inn but we will drop by every day if that's okay" Violet only smiled and said "that's fine by me, you're welcome anytime" why was she being so kind and inviting to these people? She asked herself, she couldn't give herself an answer. Usually by now she would have kicked them all out and gone back to her quiet life but now she couldn't bring herself to do it. As the days passed she learned many things about this group of characters, Meryl was strict and serious but had that gentle charm somewhere in her graceful yet tactful way of life that drew people to her, Millie was happy and silly and looked at everything through optimistic awe glassed eyes she got along with Violet and most everyone very well. Now Vash, he was a hard one to figure out, a bit of a tease, a very gentle person who smiled at almost everything and never strayed from the path of peace even when violence interfered and tried to ruin his peace (which it often did), his smile was bright and happy but felt empty and in some ways infuriated Violet, she felt the need to burst out and say "if your not happy then don't pretend to be and stop smiling!" she would rather have him frown and be true to his feelings than smile and act happy while locking everything up. It was that one thing about Vash that attracted her to him in a "I want to know more about you and your past so you'll tell me why you're so sad on the inside" kind of way. Finally there was the brother; she knew nothing about him except the small snippets of conversations she would overhear between the two women and Vash. He intrigued her greatly, what really freaked her out about the brother was the fact that he could sleep so long! But he wasn't dead, she knew that because she could feel and hear his heart beat at times when the room was empty and silent, or when she was in the process of feeding the unconscious man. She enjoyed those quiet moments when she received proof that he was alive. When she wasn't working or tending to the brother she was either reading in the library or spotting Vash in the town and watching him as he tried to get the attention of the young village girls who would giggle and smile at him and his antics, she would have only sneered and snickered at how he was making a fool of himself, he rarely ever really hit it off with one of the girls and it would only last about 5 minutes before they left him to go talk to the other girls or go get something to eat and never return to him. What she really liked to watch Vash do though was play with the children of the town who would flock to him and commence games of soccer and tag and such. It was endearing and quiet cute and in fact that was what caught most of the village girls attentions, but he didn't notice. When he played with the children it was as if he was a child like one of them and Violet felt the urge to go and join in the sport. Now that would have turned some heads! Violet outside! playing with children! Hah! "Perhaps one of these days I will! just to cause some commotion" she thought to herself as she would turn back to reading or work as she had been doing before she had turned her attention to the tall blonde man. After work she would head home and begin preparing an evening meal, Vash accompanied by the two girls would follow after shortly and sit at the small round table in the middle of the house, Violet would happily set the table and feed the group something new she had learned about at work or an old favorite that everyone would enjoy, they thanked her and dug in happily. They would usually finish about 15 minutes afterwards, then they would sit and talk about their day and what shenanigans had occurred, that would last for about another 20 minutes. After the story telling (which sometimes consisted of actual stories) Violet would either hand Vash a cup of ale then drag the man into bed when he asked for more and drank too much then she would tuck him in like a child, or sometimes he would pass out in the chair and she would have to pick him up (which was very tasking) and dump him onto his bed in a snoring heap, or on the rare nights when he was wide awake and the two other girls had either decided to stay the night and sleep on the floor or had gone home, Violet and Vash would sit at the table and talk about things that had passed or exchange intriguing tales (usually fictional) that they had heard on the road. Now the thing about Violet was that she herself had been a traveler once, she had traveled the barren planet of Gunsmoke and seen many things, heard many tales, met many people. Each was different and unique and was eager to share on the nights Vash was willing to listen or when he asked. He could never tell when her stories were purely stories or when they were reality and had actually happened because she told them with such detail and the words that she spoke seem to spring to life before his very eyes and paint a colorful, beautiful, sometimes frightening scene that was so vivid he could close his eyes and see it all. Those nights were her favorites! But there were the bad nights as well, when everything would seem peaceful during the day then Vash wouldn't return and she would have to go out only to find him bloody and beaten, she would take him home and patch him up. She remembered the first time that happened, she had dragged the man home and quickly removed the clothes he had been given by the mayors son who no longer needed them, she had stopped and gone wide eyed almost dropping the dirty clothes she held in her hand. She ran her hand along the multiple scars and felt something deep inside her snap, she began to cry slightly and was brought out of her trance by Vash "im sorry you had to see me this way…..It not usually something I like people to see, especially girls…I think theyd find it repulsive and run away from me if they saw this…..Violet do you think im repul-" she had immediately ceased his pity speech by wrapping him in the biggest hug she could manage "I could never….Find you repulsive Vash, and you know that, I will never run away from you" the words that came out of her mouth surprised even her, she hadn't meant for that to sound so, so, so…Corny. But she was even more surprised when he hugged her back, they stood like that for a few seconds and feelings of familiarity rushed back to Violet and she pushed away quickly as to stop the flow of memories. She didn't want to remember her past it was too vile and disgusting, she looked at Vash who was looking at the ground with an "I knew it" kind of face. She turned bright red then burst out "i…I didn't push you off because of your scars Vash! Its just…..That was a tad bit awkward" she said it in a very serious tone and her face lit up in such a red way that Vash couldn't help but smile and laugh a little, after that she had patched him up and made him get some rest. That was a fond memory, and from that point on Vash was no longer embarrassed of his scars around Violet. But then there were those times when he would return but he would be utterly and completely drunk, completely incoherent. He would be sputtering words that didn't make sense or sounded like another language sometimes he would speak of a girl named Rem others he would speak of gigantic ships and strange plant beings. She wouldn't truly understand and tried to ignore most of it while helping him but when he finally broke down in his drunken stupor and began to sob and cry like a child into her shoulder, that was when she sat down with him and let him lean on her until he had passed out from exhaustion and possible dehydration from all the crying. When he would wake up the mornings afterwards he would apologize many times and sometimes would become very embarrassed, she would only smile and say "it's ok really, I don't mind" while trying not to remember how frightened she had been for his life or how hard he had cried. Never before she met Vash had she ever seen a man cry, not even the small boys from the town when they would fall and hurt themselves let alone a grown man like Vash, while sometimes a tad bit pathetic she found it a very good quality in a man that he should be able to show such emotion and quit being strong and admit he needed some help and comfort even if only for a minute or even if he was drunk it was still something she admired slightly. Even so she would become cross with him at times after the nights when he had refused to fight back against an enemy or a drunk that he could have easily taken out and avoided all the pain, not because she had to deal with his injuries but because she couldn't stand how helpless he looked and made everyone think he was, or the fact that it scared the hell out of her when he got hit with a bullet or conked over the head with a beer bottle or got a nasty cut that seemed like it would never stop bleeding. Still after scolding him or comforting him about the night before she would make him breakfast and insist he stay home that day to rest, most of the time he would eat and get up insisting that he was fine. But then there were the rare times he would stay put and sit in the bed throughout the day. On those days he would watch her endearingly as she went about her business and would make small comments and conversation as she worked, then the two women would show up and Meryl would scold him heavily about how much trouble he was probably causing poor Violet. But Violet would only smile and watch the two as they bickered slightly and Millie stood there smiling, then after Meryl had calmed down Violet would give the two women a small meal which usually consisted of a small pastry or fruit and some water. Vash would stare at the snack until Violet would laugh to herself and sit down on his bed then slowly feed him so he would not toss the proverbial cookies. Millie and Meryl would just watch happily and eat in peace, and then they would leave after Violet assured them she could handle Vash for the rest of the day. Once the two had left she would finish the morning chores and pull a chair over to Vash's bed, from there she would either read a book or talk to him about random things. Sometimes he would be in a talkative mood, others he would fall asleep or even read a book with Violet. But sometimes he would ask Violet about her past, she would never give him a straight answer and usually just brushed that request off. Violet enjoyed telling stories about her travels, but her early past and family? Not so much. One day she gave into that stupid puppy dog face he pulled every time he asked her for something and told him anyway, she had been the product of loneliness, ignorance and stupidity, her father had been a simple farm man who couldn't keep a wife so he resorted to other methods of passing his name on (of course Violet never actually took her father's last name).It had been a dark night and her father had been out drinking with his buddies, he had gotten a little to tipsy and his friends somehow convinced him to share a room with a prostitute for the night, this resulted in a wide eyed and somewhat sad looking Vash. But violet continued, like she had said she was the product of ignorance and stupidity. Five nights after her father and mothers meeting her mother realized she was pregnant with her, which is a big problem for someone of her mother's job jurisdiction. Her mother had contemplated an abortion but decided to keep the child, when Violet was born her mother often left her with random strangers or fellow prostitutes, as you could imagine this was not a very good environment for a small girl like Violet to grow up in and Violet quickly realized that herself. Even the fact that her mother was a raging alcoholic and drug addict did not make her leave her mother's side, because even though Violet would be beaten senseless by this woman her mother was pathetic and hopeless when she was high or drunk and needed Violet to help her get home and stay alive. Violet took a part time job to help pay for rent, her mother's friends insisted she carry on the family job but Violet insisted she keep her part time job as a cleaning girl. After about 7 years of being beaten and bruised Violet could take it no longer so she packed up a change of over sized probably not suitable for a child to wear clothes and about $$5, wrapped it all up in a small bandana and left to fend for herself. She left the city and headed into the desert, she traveled all over Gunsmoke for about 4 more years then decided to try and cross the largest desert on the barren planet by foot, she didn't know what she was in for. She had only been on the road about 2 days when she realized she had no food or water and the next city was nowhere in sight ( a pretty idiotic move on her part) , but she had figured she would just have to push through it so she kept walking. About 6 days into her travels she was sitting up against a small rock, her throat was caked with dry sand and her tongue had swelled quite a bit, she was extremely sunburned and probably looked downright pathetic. She resigned herself to death and laid there helplessly waiting for the desert to swallow her whole. Then as she closed her eyes a dark shadowed figure of a person passed over her, she had woken up to absolute darkness and the feeling of fabric against her skin. She knew she was outside because she could hear the wind and feel the sand scrapping some parts of her body as it blew around thanks to the wind. She figured it was nighttime, then she spotted the small fire that someone had made and her eyes adjusted. She begun to look around and realized she was laying on something; well…More like someone. The feeling of fabric was coming from the man's coat; she had been laying on him. He was asleep and looked peaceful, Violets throat was no longer dry and her tongue was no longer swelled. The man had fed her and given her water when she had passed out. She looked up at the sleeping man …..At this point in her story Violet stops and sighs then continues on to tell Vash the strange fact that she can't remember the man's appearance, only that the two traveled together for about 5 weeks and she could remember almost every day of those weeks. She would wake the man up in the morning by slightly tugging on his coat or a small push on the arm, sometimes he would wake her up with a small "good morning" and she would open her eyes to find herself curled up in his coat and right next to him. Then they would somehow find something to eat out in the desert and sit down to eat like a little family, as the day dragged on the would walk through the desert while stopping to look at interesting things they found. She had become very attached to him, and then they arrived at the town and stayed at an inn for the first time. She had fallen asleep on the small bed next to the man, tightly hugging his coat which had become sort of like a comfort blanket for her. But when she awoke the next morning the man, his coat, and all traces of him were gone. She rushed down to the inns lobby and frantically asked where the man had gone the inn manager only said "he left about 3 hours ago" Violet had broken down into tears in front of everyone, then in a sorry attempt to follow rushed out about a mile and a half into the desert to find him but her attempt was in vain and she was carried back to the inn by the inn ladies spouse who had chased after the little girl. The inn lady found Violets situation to be unacceptable so she convinced the mayor to let Violet have the old cottage that she now called home. She had tried a few times to find the man and often waited outside the inn in hopes of seeing the man come walking back into town and right back to where he had left her. She told Vash that she had, had this plan for when he did come back, she was going to rush right over to him and practically tackle him then she was going to tell him how long she had been waiting , lecture him for as long as she possible on how he should never keep a good woman waiting as long as he had before breaking down and then forcing the man to marry her "I was such a child back then" she laughed happily at the memory of her silly childhood girlishness. When she had told Vash about her whole scheme he went wide eyed for about 2 seconds then laughed with her, when he stopped laughing he seemed to smile sadly at Violet but she didn't notice because she was still laughing slightly and replaying that old plan over and over in her head. Violet tells Vash how the only thing she can remember about the man physically was his coat which had been a bright red color. She finishes her little lecture by telling him "perhaps it was for the best though, he probably didn't want some child following him around and causing him trouble as he went, I was pretty useless as a child and I still am" she smiles and chuckles a bit "no Violet, you're not useless, and…" Vash gets quiet for a minute "you never were" he said it just quietly enough that Violet didn't hear and only looked at him with a questioning look. After telling him her story she had gone back to reading her book for a few seconds before the small timer on her oven went off and she got up from the chair and pulled out a tray of doughnuts which sent Vash's stomach into a growling frenzy. That of course resulted in a laughing fit from Violet and a red faced, slightly embarrassed Vash. This way of living with Vash, the two girls, and the sleeping brother continued for about 2 years until the day the brother woke up. It had been a regular, quiet day and there was a small whistle as the light, warm summer breeze passed through the town. Vash had just said goodbye and left for the morning to go do whatever he usually did, as Violet watched from the window she saw the two other women join him on his walk into town from the house which was up on a small hill walking distance from the village. Violet started to make something for the sleeping brother; she decided to make the usual: a completely liquid stew type soup that consisted mostly of tomatoes, also known as tomato soup. Once the soup was done and she had ladled it into a small bowl and grabbed a spoon, she walked over to the sleeping mans bed side and sat on her knees. She turned his face towards her, slowly ladling a spoonful of the soup into his mouth which she could part just enough to get the spoon in, then she tilted his head back a little ensuring that he wouldn't choke. She repeated the process until there was only one spoonful , she reached out to end the cycle one last time but then she was stopped as a cold firm hand shot up and grabbed her wrist tightly. She stared at the hand that had grabbed her wrist for a moment, then heart pounding and mind racing she slowly looked at the man whos bright blue cold, criticizing almost cruel eyes met her own soft brown ones. He only stared at her as if analyzing the situation and the girl she stared back but she was scared and she knew her eyes reflected that emotion. Then he released her hand in a violent snap and he sat up suddenly "w-wait you cant-" she tried to stop him but he cut her off "where is he?" he asked her "w-who?" she asked a little confused "where is Vash?" he asked very calmly which only aided in her becoming more uncomfortable "h-he-" she is cut off yet again by the door opening and a smiling Vash who steps in casually "hey Violet I forgot my-" Vash stops and his eyes seem to grow 10 times wider as he stares at his now fully awake and conscious brother who glares back at Vash "K-Knives?...Your awake" Vash says in shock "yes, I am awake brother" the lighter blonde man says still frighteningly calm. Vash sits down for a moment "so…Knives…..What are you going to-" Vash stops as Knives begins to speak "for the time being Vash, I will not attempt anything ….Now please….Explain to me why you didn't just finish me off and where we are…..And why that thing is here" Knives says bluntly gesturing to Violet. Vash sighs and looks at Violet with a sad smile "you may want to take a seat Violet, this will be the longest story I've ever told you" Violet, still very uneasy and frightened scoots herself over to Vash and listens intently as he spun a tale of human plants, spaceships, the human races last stand, his brothers ideals, and how it had all ended when he faced his brother who was now fully awake and listening as well. Violet sat there once Vash was finished, she took it all in then sighed. The sleeping man who she had developed feelings for was named Knives and tried to kill all humans, he and Vash were both plants that looked like humans and had amazing abilities, and now….What was she supposed to do? Would Knives, now that he's awake, try to kill her just as he had tried to do with all the other humans? He must detest her for being what she is, this was the day Violet had been dreading! She knew how this would end before it even began. She became extremely nervous and stood up quickly; this made both of the men flinch as she hastily rushed out the door slamming it behind her. She hadn't gotten more than about 6 feet away from the house when the raven haired insurance women walked up to her smiling "h-hello Violet! I forgot to give this to Vash he left it when he-…He left it back in the desert and I found it!" Meryl smiled holding out a bright red piece of cloth. Violet stared at the familiar clothing for a moment and unfolded it to inspect it; her eyes grew wide as hot stinging tears welled up in them. With trembling hands she pulled the coat to her chest tightly, she couldn't believe it! It was his jacket! It was his…..It was….Vash's jacket…..The memories began to flood back to her, she now remembered that goofy smile when she would wake him up in the morning by the dying fire, she remembered those sea foam eyes that were so warm and inviting, she remembered his hug whenever she would fall or hurt herself…How could she have forgotten?...How could she have forgotten the man who saved her!?..."A-are you ok Violet?" Meryl asked worriedly then she began to panic as the tears started to stream down Violets face "w-what's wrong!?" Meryl asks. The door to Violets house swung open, it was Vash who had clearly been alerted by Meryl's yelling and looked frantic. Violet turned to him, the red coat in hand and stared at him through tear filled eyes, he looked at the coat then back at her and his face softened "y-you…." Violet struggled to get words out "I'm so sorry Violet" he said walking towards the girl who broke down but shoved her face into the coat to keep him from seeing her total meltdown. He wrapped his arms around her and let her keep crying while stroking her back as to comfort her "i-it…It wasn't f-fair …It wasn't fair Vash! How could you…..How could you leave me all alone like that!?" she stammered out between sobs. Vash only continued to hold her until she had calmed down "I'm sorry Violet, I had to leave….To find Knives…..And when I did I came right back didn't i?" he asks her lightly grabbing her chin and turning her face up so his sea foam eyes could meet her own soft brown ones. She stared at him for a moment then he smiled his usual goofy smile and she pushed him away "your…..your an idiot a…..A stupid freakin idiot!" she sighed "…I believe you Vash ….About everything" he had been shocked at the sudden push and had stumbled backwards but smiled at Violet who was now turned away from him "thank you" he said, Violet turned around to face him "your brother…Is still weak, I need you to make sure he doesn't try anything while he's here" she says shoving the red coat (which was now covered in tears) at Vash "I don't think he'll do anything for now but I suppose I should talk to him about it just in case" Vash reached out and grabbed the coat from Violet, putting it on slowly. She smiled at him as the memories from those weeks so long ago came flooding back, then she turned to Meryl and smiled "thank you Meryl, it would seem as though Vash's brother is awake now" Violet smiled at Meryl who was looking extremely confused then smiled nervously "I-I see…Do you know about Vash and Knives now…..Everything?" Meryl asked "yes I do" Violet answered walking back to the house followed by a shocked Meryl and a very happy Vash. Violet let Vash go inside the house before her, when he came back out several minutes later he gestured them inside "I explained everything to him, he agreed not to cause any trouble" Vash says quietly as Violet enters the house, Knives had been looking out the window near the bed and turned slowly to look at Violet "so, you're the human who took care of me all this time?" he asks his eyes still have this cold angry look to them, she stopped for a second then walked over to Knives bedside "yes I am" she smiles at him but he only grunts and looks away again "why would you help a stranger? Especially one with gun shot wounds, gun shot wounds indicate some sort of fight involving guns…Which are very dangerous weapons which means we could have people on our trail and in turn you could get injured for helping us" he asks coldly avoiding Violets gaze. She thought about it for a moment and was a bit perturbed at Knive's attitude " I felt pity on the poor man who had been beaten senseless and was near death, so I a lowly human nursed you a superior being back to health while not thinking about my own well being….Without me you probably would have died" she said this hotly trying to get a good reaction out of Knives. She got what she had wanted when he whipped around quickly to glare at her "I was not beaten senseless you-!" he stops when he sees Violet smirking in an "I win" kind of way. He quiets down immediately and crosses his arms, stops and reverts back to that infuriating haughty attitude. Violet was starting to feel like she favored Vash over his temperamental brother, she sighs and pulls a chair over to Knive's bed "so, I hope your fine with it but I will continue to take care of you until you are fully recovered" she try's to smile sympathetically at Knives "well…..My pride will never fully recover after this but" he whispers gaining a questioning look from violet "…..Im fine with that" he says finally looking Violet in the eyes "good, and I won't stand for any trouble….Or I may just have to toss you out and let the desert coyotes deal with you, are we understood?' she asks seriously. He nods "yes I understand" she smiles at him then stands "now …..Whos hungry?" she smiles turning to Vash and Meryl, Vashs eyes light up and he smiles goofily "me!" he says raising his hand childishly then rushs to sit at the table "if it's alright with you, I'll go get Millie" Meryl says exiting the house and going off to find her partner "Knives, are you in the mood to eat?" she asks without looking at him and walking over to the kitchen counter "….No…Well…Maybe something small….I cant believe you've sunken this low Vash…..To have a human prepare your food for you, your extremely pathetic….Or is she your little human slave?" Knives asks smirking slightly "k-knives! That's ru-!" Violet stops Vash abruptly "no Knives I'm not a slave, and I volunteer to cook for Vash and YOU…..So I suggest that if you ever want to eat or speak again you refrain from spewing such crude comments" she turns to him and smiles brightly while holding a large cutting knife. Vash and Knives both turn pale as sheets and Vash quickly scoots his chair as far away from Violet as possible "just kidding" she says in a sing song voice and turns back to chopping some vegetables. Knives crossed his arms and scoffs a little, in truth that had actually scared him, never had someone taken up a weapon against him! (Except Vash) And this was a human WOMAN; he would have expected such violence from a man but not a woman! And especially not such a fragile and small looking woman…She was strange, but it was quiet resourceful that she was able to turn a kitchen utensil into a weapon .Knives is broken out of his thoughts by Violet who puts a small bowl on his lap "I'm just going to assume you can feed yourself now, so I put a spoon in the bowl" she says smiling then turned to Vash and presented him with a bowl, some bread, and a little fruit. The stuff in Knive's bowl was a red liquid and it was very warm. Knives slowly took the spoon in hand and carelessly tried to drink it "ACK!" he yelps and drops the spoon and tips the bowl over on accident "oh, Sorry that's my fault I should have warned you that it was hot!" Violet rushed over with a towel and began to clean up the mess. When she finishes the mess on the floor with a little help from Vash she turns to look at Knives who had the soup all over himself. She sighed and walked over to the kitchen sink, wetted the towel then returned to Knives and began to wipe his face and hands off. He shakes her off and looks at her confused "w-what are you doing?" he asks wide eyed "im cleaning you up! You got all that soup on you" she sighs again "your going to need a bath" Knives looks confused again then his face gets very serious and almost angry looking as he snatches the towel from her hands "i….I can do it myself" he makes a little "hmph!" noise. Violet almost laughed, he was acting like an embarrassed child. She turned to look at Vash who was smiling warmly, she quickly removed all the beds sheets that had soup on them and placed them in a tub of hot water. She got Knives some more (slightly less hot) soup and watched him eat for a minute. He had claimed to only want something small but he ate the entire bowl, Violet waited for Vash to finish before she stood up and said "now, about that bath".

Meryl and Millie had shown up a little late but Violet prepared them a meal, then suggested that they come to the bath house with them "w-what!? With that pervert!?" Meryl yelped pointing at Vash "don't worry its separated Meryl, and Vash will be to busy helping Knives to pull any stunts….Isn't that right Vash?" Violet asked with a sweet yet somehow terrifiying smile that sent shivers down Vashs spine "y-yes ma'am!" after that incident with the knife Vash was NOT going to make Violet angry again. Violet smiled and grabbed a nightgown and towel, she waited for Vash to grab a new pair of sleepwear. Then Vash leaned over to Knives and offered him a shoulder to walk with, Knifes reached out then stopped and stood shakily on his own "ill be fine by myself" after boasting and attempting to walk a few steps Knifes tripped sending him crashing into Violet who steadies herself and then puts his arm over her shoulder "just let us help you" she smiles at him and he sighs while looking away. Vash grabs another pair of PJ's then opens the door for Violet who steadily carries Knives outside, soon the group reaches the town and wait for Meryl and Millie to grab their night clothes. Once the girls rejoined the group they set off for the large building near the center of town, the baths were inside and outside so you could see steam coming from the outdoor baths. They all entered the building together and were greeted by an elderly man in a bath robe "well, hello there young'uns the man's bath is this way and the ladies bath is that way" he says pointing to the right and then to the left "unless, you don't mind, then the mixed bath is right behind me" the old man snickered but all he got was a few grossed out looks and a scowl from Knives. Violet hands Knives off to Vash and the group separates into two as they go into the proper dressing/undressing room. The girls begin to undress and put their clothes in small wooden cubbies "so, I think its nice enough to go into the outdoor bath don't you?" Millie asks wrapping up in a towel "yes that sounds nice" Meryl smiles as she wraps her towel around herself as well. Violet smiles approvingly at the two, then turns to put her towel on as well. The two brothers on the other hand were having a little bit of a rough time "I said I can do it myself!" Knives shouted as Vash tried to help him undress "really? Then lets see you do it!" Vash smirks and sits down on the wooden bench in the middle of the dressing room, he watches as Knives (who is finally able to stand by himself) struggles in taking his shirt off. Then he stumbles and falls over "ARGH! Damn!" he shouts as his shirt gets stuck on his head. Vash chuckles quietly then walks over and helps Knives up and out of his shirt, he hands knives a towel to cover up with "ill let you handle the rest, can you handle it?" Vash asks raising an eye brow "of course I can!" Knives scoffs as Vash walks towards the outside bath in a towel. Knives is able to get the rest of his clothing off and secure the towel around his waist, he struts out shakily and into the outdoor bath quiet proud of himself. Vash is already in the bath and is lying up against one of the ornamental rocks with his eyes closed, Knives felt extremely awkward, how could his brother be so comfortable around him after everything that had happened? His brother was much too trusting and naïve. Knives slowly submerged himself in the extremely warm water, it was very relaxing. A new scent reaches his nose and he sniffs the air, it was coming from over a tall wooden fence that separated the men and the women's bath. They must have poured some kind of incense into the bath, but it smelt very nice. It soothed Knives a bit as he began to relax and lay against a different rock a ways away from Vash who smiled at his brother seeing how relaxed he was. Over on the other side in the women's bath Millie happily skips up to the baths edge then jumps in splashing Meryl and Violet with lavender scented water "Millie…." Meryl sighs slowly slipping into the bath, Violet laughs following the two. Once their situated Violet turns to one of the rocks that has a flat platform where some soap and a warm small towel are sitting, she grabs the soap and gets the small towel sudsy. Then she slowly begins to wash herself, she turns away from the other two and quietly works up a lather on her skin, but when she turns away from them it reveals the extremely long scar that runs from the top of her shoulders down her back and into a spiral like pattern that resembled a DNA strand and continued all the way down to where her leg met her waist, if it weren't for the scar Violet would have had just about perfect skin, it was a pearly white color almost but not so white that she looked sick, just enough to give her a faint moon like glow. Meryl gasps slightly then looks away but Millie just stares at Violet's back worriedly, Violet turns back to the girls "are you two ok?" she asks, she had forgotten about that scar. Then she remembered and quickly turned a bright red color "o-oh Im sorry, if it makes you uncomfortable I could go into the indoor bath" she says quickly exiting the warm water, making her shudder at the sudden loss of warmth "n-no its ok, it just surprised me at first…..W-where did you-…..N-Never mind" Meryl almost asks but backs out so she doesn't cause any awkward moments. Violets eyes soften and she laughs slightly slipping back into the water "the scar was from a long time ago, I don't know if I ever told you but Ive traveled all over this planet and Ive done many things…..Some im not so proud of" she said craning her neck to look back at the scar sadly "y-you don't have to tell us! It doesn't really matter!" Millie laughs "I don't mind….If you'd like to listen" Violet chuckles again as both the girls scoot over to her and listen closely and Violets more talkative side takes over "ok, where do I start…." Violet sighs and rubs her back slightly " well, I was about 8, by that time I had arrived in Mai city…..I didn't have much money or food left and I wasn't able to get a job so I resorted to thievery" Violet begins with a somewhat faraway look in her eyes, she remembered it as if it were yesterday. Just before she had met Vash, she wandered the streets of Mai city scouting out the easiest victim. She had never had to steal before but she was out of options and this was the only solution she could come up with, then she saw it, her best chance! A large well dressed man was walking about in a sluggish manor, he wore a tail coat like suit with a large top hat and had a cane that aided his walking and relieved some of the stress of walking due to his abnormal size. His large size would make it hard for him to run after her and he had to have some kind of loot on him, just look at how he was dressed! She ran up behind the man and trailed behind him in the streets waiting for the best moment to snatch whatever was in his pockets, the man stopped at a small street cart that was selling some kind of food. This made Violets stomach go into a grumbling frenzy, the man reached into his pocket to pull out a leather looking wallet that looked like it was over flowing with green. Violet eyed the wallet then as the man reached out to give the street cart owner the money she pounced! She ran up and snatched the wallet, of course the man had shouted and attempted to chase after her, even so he failed and Violet ran! She continued running until she was sure she had lost him and then settled down in a small alley way. By that time it was near dusk, Violet opened the wallet to inspect what she had gotten, the first thing she saw when she opened the wallet was a picture of the man, a woman and a child. The child was a small blonde female with baby blue eyes and the woman was a tall brown haired woman with green eyes. They must have been the man's wife and child, he had a family…..Violet had looked at the picture for a long time "that man will probably need this money and his wallet to take care of his family" she had thought. Of course she was young so she wouldn't have known that the man actually had a very large bank account and losing the wallet was actually the equivalent of losing a penny to him. But with that thought that his wife and child could be affected Violet guiltily got to her feet and began wandering the town looking for the man, she found him speaking to some authorities. She slowly approached and the man looked at her then pointed and exclaimed "there she is! The little thief! Arrest her!" the police exchanged pitying glances as the man "how could he have been duped by such a little girl?" they thought to themselves. One of the men sighed then walked over to Violet and took the wallet from her then gave it back to the man who said "aren't you going to punish her?!" the police man gave him a disgusted look "look at her, the Childs half dead! She obviously needs that wallet more than you and look she didn't even take anything" he grunted. The wealthy man turned red in anger and stomped off then yelled as he walked away "you wont get away with this, you street urchin!" he shouted while pointing at Violet although she didn't know it the man was very persistent and had a few anger issues, Violet flinched and looked at the police men tears filling her eyes "im so….Im sorry…I was just hungry" she sniffled. The police man looked at her with pity and patted her head then handed her a small amount of money "here go get something to eat" with that the men walked off to patrol the rest of the city. Violet had gone and gotten a small amount of bread from an inn and saved some money for the future, she had been sitting in an alley way munching on the bread happily and planning to fall asleep when three large shadows came into the alley blocking the light from the city "there she is" said a familiar voice "that 'er? Shes pretty skinny, not sure she'll fetch much" one gruff deep voice said. Another voice entered "just bag her and let's get outta here!" Violet immediately got up and dropped the bread, she attempted to run past the three men but she was lifted up into the air and shoved into a bag. When violet was finally taken out of the bag she was in a dark place that was muggy and smelled of something fowl "w-where am i?" she asked, then a snickering voice rang out "well she's pretty frail lookin aint she? Ah well, she'll have to do…Let's just hope she doesn't die as easily as the others" it was definitely a male voice and inspired quiet the amount of fear in Violet. As it had turned out she had been taken by slave traders who had then gone and sold her to a research lab that did expirements on human subjects. Violet spent many days in surgery rooms being cut into and stitched up, many days being forced to run mazes and do various exercises for hours without end all the while probes attached to her that recorded all her data, many hours trying to stomach the food that was nothing more than a mush of what tasted like dirt and spittle after having operations done on her. But there came a day when Violet was taken into the surgery room and put to sleep, while she was asleep the "doctors" cut into her head and preformed experiments on her brain then cut down her back in the DNA looking spiral that was now a scar to attach various mechanics into her body. The experiment they had preformed was designed to increase all of Violets skills her intelligence, power, the rate at which she aged slowed, and her social abilities were supposed to improve as well. The mechanics were put in her to record further data and to make her bones grown stronger with the strange medicines implanted inside the mechanics. They had tried to turn Violet into a super human, it had been a success. Violet grew strong, very strong and was smarter than most of the adults in the labs. By the time Violet was 10 she had managed to get out of her cell like container and escape the labs unnoticed. From there she was able to continue traveling, but that scar remained and her abilities continued to increase. Violet finished telling her tale and was brought back out of her dream like state by the sniffles of Millie and Meryl who looked like they were on the verge of tears "t-that's….That's horrible! Who would do such a thing to a little girl!?" Millie asked starting to bawl "d-don't cry Millie please, see I'm ok now! It was a long time ago" Violet smiles at the girls "a-aren't you mad or angry about what happened to you?" Meryl asks whipping the tears away "no, I find it very easy to forgive those who hurt me…..I'm not one for grudges….I'm sure they had their reasons….Plus it was my fault for stealing in the first place" Violet laughs slightly "b-but it wasn't…Your fault! You were just hungry and-" Violet stops Millie "no, it was my fault…But I'm not angry because if that hadn't happened I wouldn't be here with you guys" Violet smiles "how's that?" Meryl asks looking confused "well, if I hadn't stolen from that man I probably would have died and plus the lab workers did feed me, if I had died I wouldn't be here with you now would i?" she smiles at the two girls who smile back seeing the point. On the other side of the fence the brothers had been listening intently to hear the tale as well "stupid spiders….Treating their own kind like…like animals! See Vash, we are superior" Knives says sternly looking at his brother who sighs a little while ignoring his brother "it's hard to believe…..That she went through all that and can still see the Brightside" Vash leaned against the fence thinking about all he had just heard "are you even listening to me?" Knives sighs rubbing his temple "Hmmm? Whatcha say?" Vash asks snapping out of it. Knives only sighs again "nothing Vash…Just nothing"


End file.
